Mansfield Park (2007) (TV)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Iain B. MacDonald

Writer:

Maggie Wadey (written by)

Release Date:

27 January 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

At age 10, Fanny Price is sent by her destitute mother to live with her aunt and uncle, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram...

Plot Keywords:

Uncle | Clergyman | Aunt | Family Relationships | Horse Riding

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Julia Joyce	...	Young Fanny
Jemma Redgrave	...	Lady Bertram
Douglas Hodge	...	Sir Thomas Bertram
Maggie O'Neill	...	Mrs. Norris
Tara Berwin	...	Young Maria
Lucy Hurst	...	Young Julia
Zachary Elliott-Hatton	...	Young Tom
Greg Sheffield	...	Young Edmund
Billie Piper	...	Fanny Price
Blake Ritson	...	Edmund Bertram
James D'Arcy	...	Tom Bertram
Michelle Ryan	...	Maria Bertram
Rory Kinnear	...	Rushworth
Catherine Steadman	...	Julia Bertram
Hayley Atwell	...	Mary Crawford

Runtime:

120 min (including commercials) | Finland:88 min (excluding commercials)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Finland:K-3

Filming Locations:

Newby Hall, Skelton on Ure, North Yorkshire, England, UK

Company:

Company Pictures

Trivia:

The white muslin dress with yellow overdress Michelle Ryan wears during the scene in which Sir Thomas asks Maria if she wants to marry Mr. Rushworth is the same gown Kate Winslet wears as Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995) during the picnic scene, and a farmhouse servant wears in Eroica (2003) (TV).

Movie Connections:

Version of Mansfield Park (1999)

Soundtrack:

Tythe Pig

Did they even read the book?

I doubt whoever wrote this screenplay has ever actually read Mansfield Park...or if they have it was not very well. None of the characters are what they should be: Fanny is lively and conscious of her mistreatment, while Sir Thomas, who treated her very well, seems to have accidentally fallen into Aunt Norris' personality. Additionally, a first person narrative by Fanny is highly inappropriate to both the story and her character. Fanny is not an entertaining heroine, and I would contend that she is not meant to be. Additionally, in the movie version, Fanny flirts shamelessly with Edmund from the very beginning, when they have been raised as brother and sister! Austen's Fanny would have shrank from flirtation of any sort, and the novel paints the Fanny/Edmund pairing as highly uncomfortable...as it should be. Unlike some other Jane Austen novels (P&P, Emma), Mansfield Park does not rest on the strength of its female protagonist. It is a very different sort of novel than the others; it is not meant to be a love story. I watched this movie because I have just now finished reading Mansfield Park, and I am absolutely horrified by what I see; Miss Austen is rolling in her grave.